Trish Villines

Trish Villines brings a diverse background in public relations, nonprofit development, higher education and health and human services to the State Chamber/AIA. Prior to her initial post as executive director of the Arkansas Institute for Performance Excellence, she worked for North Arkansas College where she wrote and secured more than $3 million in grant funding. She also coordinated special projects such as applying for the Governor’s Quality Award. With her assistance, North Arkansas College became the first institution of higher education to receive the Governor’s Award for Performance Excellence in 2015. She returns to the State Chamber after serving as North Arkansas Regional Director for Pathfinder, Inc., a disability service provider that serves children and adults. Early in her career, she worked for Northwest Arkansas public relations firm Mitchell Communications Group. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a Master of Public Administration from Arkansas State University.